A thoughtful, provocative collection of well-tested teaching strategies and philosophies that work across the curriculum.
An inspiring exhortation to make the standard college syllabus work harder and better.
Germano and Nicholls, who teach at the Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art in New York, argue that the syllabus, “that almost invisible bureaucratic document,” must become something more than the purposes it normally serves: as something of a contract between teacher and student (if you do X and Y, you will get an A) and as a repository of university policies on such things as unexcused absences, plagiarism, and accommodation for special needs that the teacher almost certainly did not write. Both those functions are necessary, but the syllabus can be more useful. The authors encourage teachers to keep a “secret syllabus” that is a teaching diary, reflecting on successes and failures in presenting material and eliciting students’ responses. Moreover, the authors hit hard and repeatedly on the thought that the best teaching turns on notions of “student-centered pedagogy,” which relies on collaborative projects. “So when we craft a syllabus,” they write, “let’s choose to think actively about the plan we’re making for students to know together and how to know together.” Over the course of this short book, the subject subtly transforms from the Rousseauvian pedagogical contract to the act of teaching itself, with some useful pointers toward unwonted practices, such as the teacher’s holding discourse back and insisting that the students talk, as well as promoting the thought that if the course contains readings, students must be actively committed to that work. “Because we sometimes fail to fully imagine our students in that act of reading,” write the authors, “our syllabi sometimes fail to create the right conditions for students to read well.” Overburdened teachers will cheer the authors’ suggestion that they mark only categorical errors on written work—but perhaps will groan at the thought of reading “a fully corrected redraft.”
A thoughtful, provocative collection of well-tested teaching strategies and philosophies that work across the curriculum.Pub Date: Oct. 20, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-691-19220-8
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Princeton Univ.
Review Posted Online: July 27, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2020
Worthwhile reference stuffed with facts and illustrations.
A compendium of charts, time lines, lists and illustrations to accompany study of the Bible.
This visually appealing resource provides a wide array of illustrative and textually concise references, beginning with three sets of charts covering the Bible as a whole, the Old Testament and the New Testament. These charts cover such topics as biblical weights and measures, feasts and holidays and the 12 disciples. Most of the charts use a variety of illustrative techniques to convey lessons and provide visual interest. A worthwhile example is “How We Got the Bible,” which provides a time line of translation history, comparisons of canons among faiths and portraits of important figures in biblical translation, such as Jerome and John Wycliffe. The book then presents a section of maps, followed by diagrams to conceptualize such structures as Noah’s Ark and Solomon’s Temple. Finally, a section on Christianity, cults and other religions describes key aspects of history and doctrine for certain Christian sects and other faith traditions. Overall, the authors take a traditionalist, conservative approach. For instance, they list Moses as the author of the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Hebrew Bible) without making mention of claims to the contrary. When comparing various Christian sects and world religions, the emphasis is on doctrine and orthodox theology. Some chapters, however, may not completely align with the needs of Catholic and Orthodox churches. But the authors’ leanings are muted enough and do not detract from the work’s usefulness. As a resource, it’s well organized, inviting and visually stimulating. Even the most seasoned reader will learn something while browsing.
Worthwhile reference stuffed with facts and illustrations.Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2005
ISBN: 978-1-5963-6022-8
Page Count: -
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 23, 2010
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
This a book of earlier, philosophical essays concerned with the essential "absurdity" of life and the concept that- to overcome the strong tendency to suicide in every thoughtful man-one must accept life on its own terms with its values of revolt, liberty and passion. A dreary thesis- derived from and distorting the beliefs of the founders of existentialism, Jaspers, Heldegger and Kierkegaard, etc., the point of view seems peculiarly outmoded. It is based on the experience of war and the resistance, liberally laced with Andre Gide's excessive intellectualism. The younger existentialists such as Sartre and Camus, with their gift for the terse novel or intense drama, seem to have omitted from their philosophy all the deep religiosity which permeates the work of the great existentialist thinkers. This contributes to a basic lack of vitality in themselves, in these essays, and ten years after the war Camus seems unaware that the life force has healed old wounds... Largely for avant garde aesthetes and his special coterie.
Pub Date: Sept. 26, 1955
ISBN: 0679733736
Page Count: 228
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: Sept. 19, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1955
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